THANATOLOGY
- 27 April 1912
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in JAMA
- Vol. LVIII (17) , 1243-1246
- https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1912.04260040259001
Abstract
Is it possible to watch the "vital spark of heavenly flame," as it quits "this mortal frame" and not be overcome by the mystery of death as the termination of that even greater mystery, life? Is there inspiration in the pagan emperor's address to his soul—those Latin verses which Pope has so beautifully translated? To the speculative philosopher death may have a different significance, and one not altogether included in that given to it by the physiologist. To the former it is a subject for transcendental speculation; to the latter it is the terminal stage of that adjustment of internal and external relations which, for Spencer, constitutes life. For us its primary and immediate significance is purely mundane, yet it deserves such serious study from a practical viewpoint as it seldom receives. What is death? When does it actually occur? How can it occur when the majority of cells inKeywords
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